Orthodox leaders hope to leverage the ruling to help Jewish schools in New York and other states. (Getty) |
The Supreme Court is winding up its term, with a ruling expected soon in a Mississippi abortion case likely to overturn Roe v. Wade. On Tuesday the justices handed down decisions in five cases, including one that could have repercussions for Jewish schools across the country. Orthodox leaders applauded Tuesday’s ruling that Maine cannot exclude religious schools from a state program that provides tuition for other private schools. They hope to leverage the decision in other states where public dollars are currently not allowed to go toward religious school programs. But Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the decision could amount to “religious coercion.” Read the story ➤ In a new essay for our opinion section, the Orthodox Union’s Nathan Diament and Maury Litwack praised the decision, in part, because it could be used to grant Jewish schools the same security resources and mental health counseling programs as public schools. Read their essay ➤ Quotable: In a separate case, involving healthcare, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan used a heady metaphor. “A tax on yarmulkes remains a tax on Jews, even if friends of other faiths might occasionally don one at a bar mitzvah,” Kagan wrote in a dissent, which you can read in its entirety here. |
Christopher Erskin (center) on the set of 'Kingdom Business.' (BET) |
Meet the Jewish director helming a Christian gospel show for BET: “Kingdom Business,” an eight-part drama, tells the story of an exotic dancer-turned gospel singer who gets signed to a record deal by a megachurch. Behind the scenes was Christopher Erskin – a Jew of color who proudly wears his kippah on set each day and doesn’t work on Shabbat. “This kind of diversity is status quo in the entertainment industry,” Erskin said, “where regardless of the subject matter, everyone working on a movie comes from a variety of faiths.” Read the story ➤ ‘Against a wall’ | Boston’s Jewish leftists conflicted by BDS map: When an anonymous group of activists unveiled a map earlier this month showing some 500 entities it alleged were complicit in “the colonization of Palestine,” the local Jewish establishment denounced it as dangerous. Now the FBI is investigating the so-called Mapping Project, and even some of its creators’ natural allies think it was a bridge too far. But their reluctance to speak out shows just how fraught the intersection of anti-Zionism and antisemitism has become. Read the story ➤ Opinion | The fall of Israel’s government empowers dangerous conspiracies on the right:The so-called “change” coalition included an Arab party for the first time in history. But its year in power also saw a marked rise in poisonous rhetoric against Israeli Arabs by right-wing politicians. Dany Bahar, our newest contributing columnist, says this “shows many Israelis do not understand one of the most basic principles of a democracy, which is to protect a country’s minorities.”Read his essay ➤
And one more: Antonio Delgado, the newly-appointed lieutenant governor of New York, said Tuesday that his faith and the power of love are key to his success, and that his wife’s Jewish background helped shape some of his political views. Read our interview ➤
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Eli Rosenbaum earlier in his career at a Guatemalan police station. (Courtesy) |
🇺🇦 Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped Eli Rosenbaum, one of the world’s foremost Nazi hunters, to prosecute Russians for war crimes. Garland made the announcement during a surprise visit to Ukraine on Tuesday. We interviewed Rosenbaum, a Justice Department veteran based in Virginia, last year about his work – including investigating looted Nazi gold and pursuing Josef Mengele. (Times of Israel, Forward) 🤷 Al Gross has dropped out of the race for Alaska’s lone House seat. Gross, a Jewish physician and fisherman, finished third among nearly 50 candidates — including Sarah Palin and Santa Claus — in an open primary this month to make the runoff. He encouraged supporters to back a native Alaskan woman instead. (AP) 🤦♂️ Eric Greitens, a Jewish Republican running for Senate in Missouri, released a TV ad in which he hunts for “RINOs” — Republicans in name only — while carrying a shotgun. Greitens was formerly the governor of Missouri and resigned in 2018 amid revelations that an extramarital lover accused him of abuse and blackmail. (New York Times) 🌊 France’s top administrative court ruled Tuesday against allowing body-covering “burkini” swimwear in public pools for religious reasons, arguing that it violates the principle of government neutrality toward religion. (CNN) 😷 Mayim Bialik, the actress and “Jeopardy!” host, has tested positive for COVID-19. “I was thinking about all the people with young children, especially single parents, because this level of exhaustion I cannot imagine needing to care for small children right now,” she said in a video posted to Instagram. “I know that so many people in this world are in that situation and it’s just really devastating to me.” (People) 🏇 The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame is set to induct its newest class this Sunday. The inductees include a jockey, a fencer, and a sports journalist. (LA Times) Mazel tov ➤ Diane Warren, the Jewish songwriter famously nominated for 13 Academy Awards without ever winning one, will get an honorary Oscar at this year’s Governors Awards ceremony in November.
Shiva call ➤ Jozef Walaszczyk, a Polish partisan who fell in love with a Jewish woman and rescued her and dozens of others from the Holocaust, died at 102.
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Judy Garland and Ray Bolger in a scene from 'The Wizard of Oz.' (Getty) |
On this day in history: Judy Garland died on June 22, 1969. Inaccurately rumored to Jewish, “The Wizard of Oz” starlet frequently collaborated with Jewish artists and enchanted Jewish audiences seeking comfort amid rising fascism. She also had romantic affairs with a number of Jewish studio denizens, including bandleader Artie Shaw, director Joe Mankiewicz and pianist and actor Oscar Levant. “Studio bosses, almost all of them Jewish, may have decided that it was necessary to de-Judaize Judy,” Benjamin Ivry wrote earlier this month. “Had Judy, raised Episcopalian, assimilated too much Yiddishkeit?” In honor of Meryl Streep’s birthday, check out her secret Jewish history. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” arrives on Disney+ today. Did Jewish theologians predict the alternate realities in the latest Marvel movie? Last year on this day, a British court ruled that a haredi Orthodox couple’s 2-year-old daughter must be taken off life support. On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 23rd of Sivan, when Haman’s edict for destroying the Jewish people was overturned, as described in the Book of Esther.
Thursday at 5 a.m. ET / 12 p.m. Israel time: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to address the students and faculty at Hebrew University, leaving time for 45 minutes of Q&A with them afterwards. It will be available to watch later on YouTube.
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(Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority) |
A team of Israeli archaeologists have unearthed one of the oldest known mosques in the world. It dates to the seventh century, and joins another from that era that was uncovered in 2019. The remains were found during an excavation ahead of the construction of new neighborhoods in the Bedouin city of Rahat in the Negev. ––– Thanks to Laura E. Adkins, Rudy Malcom and Robin Washington for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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